Star Photography

chalky87

chalky87

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Pete
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I need some advice if anyone is willing.

I want to get some decent shots of stars, not particular stars, just try and incorporate them into my shots. However I'm finding it difficult to get any decent ones.

I'm shooting with my 18-55 lens, F4.8 (That's as big as my aperture gets) with around ISO 1600/1250 and a 20 second shutter speed. However my shots are coming out with a red tinge on them. I can add with a monochrome effect but that just kills any depth to the shot. I'm shooting away from any light sources.

Has anyone got any advice? All suggestions welcome.
 
Thanks for the reply Jules,

That's a good article, that's the kind of accessible advice I'm looking for. so do you think the red tinge could be light pollution?
 
without seeing an example - more than likely.
I have been in the middle of nowhere doing startrails and still suffered from pollution however, sometimes it can be of use. In this pic I exaggerated the pollution deliberately.

Stars over Broadway - Explored Jan 15, 2012 #297 by =Jules=, on Flickr

The light pollution here is from Broadway village at the bottom of the hill
 
It sounds like light pollution, one way to reduce it is to change your white balance to Tunsten, it will cool the image down :)
Also make sure you shoot in RAW, that way you can also make exposure changes etc....
 
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That looks fantastic Jules. You should be proud of that shot.

Thanks Perfexeon. I'm working nights for the next few nights and I work in the middle of nowhere so I might take my camera and tripod with me and give it a try.
 
You simply need to get away from light pollution for shots like the ones you decsribe.

Even in the middle of the lake district you'll get it.

8524603589_33ca493003_c.jpg


The only places I've seen that had none in the UK, were Keilder Forest, Galloway, and the very tip of the north Wales penninsula. I'm sure the scottish highlands and Islands will be good too. Orkney was pretty awesome as well. England is horribly light polluted though. In fact, here's a shot of Orion I took in Galloway. Not the best shot. I only took it to crop in on the nebula... I was curious to see how good a shot you could get without a telescope. It shows you what a true dark sky site looks like though. This was a 5 minute exposure with the camera on an equatorial mount.... and still no light pollution.

LYUbkjz.jpg


In short, the more remote you are... the better.

With star trails... it's less important, as sometimes it can add to it, but with the shots you seem to want, you NEED to get away because if you want the ground and stars in the same shot, you need no more than 20 or 30 secs, with very high ISO and very dark skies. Shooting for 30 seconds at ISO 6400 with light pollution will just give orange skies. It can be filtered out to an extent in Lightroom, but you're compromising the shot and you will not get the black skies behind the stars.
 
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Thanks for the help Pookeyhead (great screen name). You have some great shots there, The second is what i was trying to achieve last night. I think I will just need to try and get somewhere really remote.
 
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